Were you at a stand still when it happened? I was thinking MAYBE that was how the gauge was when the accident occurred. I am going to guess there are a few fuses that went out, I would check all of the fuses and replace if necessary, that is at least a start.
Car Accident
Car Accident
I was rear ended a few hours ago in my car. Just looking for the advice from some people on the board. The lady who hit me was taken immediately in the ambulance, and I said I would like to wait for the police and tow truck to go get checked out as I am rather banged up too. I am posting this via my phone on the side of the road, waiting for my tow truck.
The timeline went a something like this:
2:40 pm - Lady hits me
2:45 pm- Small fire department pick up truck shows up, tell me police are on their way, lady requests medical attention(still hasn't exited her car)
2:50 pm- Ambulance and fire truck show up, tell me police are there
3:00 pm- Ambulance left with lady, small fire department truck leaves and tells me the police are on their way
3:28 pm- We call the police and ask where they are at, they say they are on their way
3:32 pm- Police call us, tell us we are out of the jurisdiction, and transfer us. We get transferred two three different counties here.
3:52 pm- No one would take us, so FHP calls us and says they are on their way.
4:09 pm- We call FHP, ask where they are at, say they are right around the corner
4:30pm- FHP shows up
They took a brief description of what went down,(100 words or less) and he listened by memory and walked back to his car. He filled some stuff out, they called a tow truck driver for me, whom I declined as I did not like the way he was about to go about towing my car. The police then left after giving me a "Driver Information Exchange" with her info, mine, and theirs. I asked to see a police report or anything else and they said that is not how it works. This is my first car accident so I am rather clueless.
I attached some pictures of my car, the exhaust is tweaked and none of the electronics work since she hit me. Windows and sun roof are stuck where they are at, and the cluster is stuck in that weird position. (See picture)
Did I get all the information I should have from the officer? What should I do next with my car? What's with the cluster? I have a basic idea of what I should do I just know there are a lot more seasoned members than me who can give me some invaluable advice. (Sorry if there are any typos, cellphones are hard to type from)
Thanks!
The timeline went a something like this:
2:40 pm - Lady hits me
2:45 pm- Small fire department pick up truck shows up, tell me police are on their way, lady requests medical attention(still hasn't exited her car)
2:50 pm- Ambulance and fire truck show up, tell me police are there
3:00 pm- Ambulance left with lady, small fire department truck leaves and tells me the police are on their way
3:28 pm- We call the police and ask where they are at, they say they are on their way
3:32 pm- Police call us, tell us we are out of the jurisdiction, and transfer us. We get transferred two three different counties here.
3:52 pm- No one would take us, so FHP calls us and says they are on their way.
4:09 pm- We call FHP, ask where they are at, say they are right around the corner
4:30pm- FHP shows up
They took a brief description of what went down,(100 words or less) and he listened by memory and walked back to his car. He filled some stuff out, they called a tow truck driver for me, whom I declined as I did not like the way he was about to go about towing my car. The police then left after giving me a "Driver Information Exchange" with her info, mine, and theirs. I asked to see a police report or anything else and they said that is not how it works. This is my first car accident so I am rather clueless.
I attached some pictures of my car, the exhaust is tweaked and none of the electronics work since she hit me. Windows and sun roof are stuck where they are at, and the cluster is stuck in that weird position. (See picture)
Did I get all the information I should have from the officer? What should I do next with my car? What's with the cluster? I have a basic idea of what I should do I just know there are a lot more seasoned members than me who can give me some invaluable advice. (Sorry if there are any typos, cellphones are hard to type from)
Thanks!
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Ouch! I hope you are ok! Get to a doctor right away and explain what happened, and if you tell them you got some back pain you can get a free massage courtesy of the stupid lady's insurance. After the shock of the accident wears off you will surely notice a little soreness here and there, dont hesitate to tell the doctor. Its probably nothing but I know after I got rear ended my back has never been the same and I never told my doctor so now I am footing the bill myself for physical therapy. Basically - tell the doctor anywhere that hurts, tell the insurance anything that is broken on the car.
IIRC the cluster is designed to do that in an accident, so the emergency teams know if you were going 100mph when you crashed or what not
I was worried the lady was gonna be gearing up to screw you over on health insurance but, SHE rear ended you, so its her fault. I am not sure why the police did not give you a copy or at least direct you where you could obtain a copy of the police report...
What you need to do now is call your insurance ASAP, tell them what happened, provide any photos you took (extremely helpful, if you took photos of the cars positioned where they were immediately after the accident), explain the damage, and the insurance should pretty much take it from there. Last accident I was in I just called my insurance, didnt hear anything for 3 weeks then just got a big fat check in the mail.
Frankly I am not sure how much damage your car has. From my understanding the cluster should not "stick" unless its a MAJOR accident. IE, the airbags go off. And your mentioning of the other electronics is somewhat surprising, I know sometimes the battery will cut out after a major accident - to protect from starting a fire inadvertently, but I do not know. We need more information on what happened to the car to help you fix it, or at the least, diagnose it.
IIRC the cluster is designed to do that in an accident, so the emergency teams know if you were going 100mph when you crashed or what not
I was worried the lady was gonna be gearing up to screw you over on health insurance but, SHE rear ended you, so its her fault. I am not sure why the police did not give you a copy or at least direct you where you could obtain a copy of the police report...
What you need to do now is call your insurance ASAP, tell them what happened, provide any photos you took (extremely helpful, if you took photos of the cars positioned where they were immediately after the accident), explain the damage, and the insurance should pretty much take it from there. Last accident I was in I just called my insurance, didnt hear anything for 3 weeks then just got a big fat check in the mail.
Frankly I am not sure how much damage your car has. From my understanding the cluster should not "stick" unless its a MAJOR accident. IE, the airbags go off. And your mentioning of the other electronics is somewhat surprising, I know sometimes the battery will cut out after a major accident - to protect from starting a fire inadvertently, but I do not know. We need more information on what happened to the car to help you fix it, or at the least, diagnose it.
The only electronics back where she hit you are the PDC sensors. I think she may have tweaked your battery too...check that connections (esp negative) is still tight. Sorry to hear that you got hit, but glad you're ok man.
Sorry to hear. Towing: flat-bed only, don't lash/drag by the aluminum suspension arms, instead use the tow hook in the bumpers. Electronics: I believe there is a fuse box on the trunk-side of that damage. Accident: witness phone numbers and/or pictures of scene might help, but her info and a police report should suffice.
Sorry to see it. Get on the phone to your insurance company asap and fill your phone up with pictures of ever conceivable angle, the street, skid marks, anything.
Your electrics might be out due to the Battery Safety Terminal (BST) having deployed, but I thought it was meant to kill the engine and allow the remainder of the car 'live' so that lights, phones etc would continue to work.
May well be that the terminal has popped off.
Was it a big slap? It doesn't look particularly big to me, but I wasn't there.
Get as much information as possible from womever possible. Be factual and honest (but suspect that the other other party might not be so honourable-it seems very likely that it was her fault).
Keep receipts of everything and note anything that's related to the accident. Have receipts pertaining to the maintenance of the car to hand as well, might help to prove its value later on (especially if it's written off!).
Let your insurers know everything and let them handle everything, any letter you receive related to this, you should pass them on to your insurers.
If you were not at fault, don't worry. You should be compensated for everything and not be out of pocket at all.
HTH.
May well be that the terminal has popped off.
Was it a big slap? It doesn't look particularly big to me, but I wasn't there.
Get as much information as possible from womever possible. Be factual and honest (but suspect that the other other party might not be so honourable-it seems very likely that it was her fault).
Keep receipts of everything and note anything that's related to the accident. Have receipts pertaining to the maintenance of the car to hand as well, might help to prove its value later on (especially if it's written off!).
Let your insurers know everything and let them handle everything, any letter you receive related to this, you should pass them on to your insurers.
If you were not at fault, don't worry. You should be compensated for everything and not be out of pocket at all.
HTH.
Glad to hear you're not hurt. Florida is a no-fault state, so here's some reading material to educate yourself on. I grew up in SoFla, got into an accident when I was in my teens (that was a decade and a half ago), so I knew a little bit from my experience. Disclaimer: I am not an attorney. Advice given here is for informational purposes ONLY.
Bad news!
But glad you are OK!
But glad you are OK!
Thank you everyone for the help. Just got home now, I will try to answer some of the questions.
I was at a standstill for about 5-10 seconds before she hit me. She was doing around 40-45 mph, and then turned to the right pretty quick to avoid me(Locked them and and understeered). So the impact was fairly hard but just in that section of the car.
blackxs, thanks a bunch. I have been on the phone with them all day and think I got everything settled. Now I have to decide if I want to file the claim with my company and wait for reimbursement, or file it through hers. I'm not sure of the best route yet.
E55AMG2, no PDC here. Thanks for the kind words. Any recommendations on where I should take her?
VacMan, I took pictures of as much as I could. I went ahead and uploaded them to my insurance company's website as you recommended.
ger, as I said earlier in this post, she "grazed" me pretty hard. Not sure if it was hard enough to set off the BST, but the tow truck driver thought the same thing as you.
2k, thanks for the link to read.
I was at a standstill for about 5-10 seconds before she hit me. She was doing around 40-45 mph, and then turned to the right pretty quick to avoid me(Locked them and and understeered). So the impact was fairly hard but just in that section of the car.
blackxs, thanks a bunch. I have been on the phone with them all day and think I got everything settled. Now I have to decide if I want to file the claim with my company and wait for reimbursement, or file it through hers. I'm not sure of the best route yet.
E55AMG2, no PDC here. Thanks for the kind words. Any recommendations on where I should take her?
VacMan, I took pictures of as much as I could. I went ahead and uploaded them to my insurance company's website as you recommended.
ger, as I said earlier in this post, she "grazed" me pretty hard. Not sure if it was hard enough to set off the BST, but the tow truck driver thought the same thing as you.
2k, thanks for the link to read.
Brennan's (Orlando), Samuel's (Sanford), or Excel Autobody (Maitland)Thank you everyone for the help. Just got home now, I will try to answer some of the questions.
I was at a standstill for about 5-10 seconds before she hit me. She was doing around 40-45 mph, and then turned to the right pretty quick to avoid me(Locked them and and understeered). So the impact was fairly hard but just in that section of the car.
blackxs, thanks a bunch. I have been on the phone with them all day and think I got everything settled. Now I have to decide if I want to file the claim with my company and wait for reimbursement, or file it through hers. I'm not sure of the best route yet.
E55AMG2, no PDC here. Thanks for the kind words. Any recommendations on where I should take her?
VacMan, I took pictures of as much as I could. I went ahead and uploaded them to my insurance company's website as you recommended.
ger, as I said earlier in this post, she "grazed" me pretty hard. Not sure if it was hard enough to set off the BST, but the tow truck driver thought the same thing as you.
2k, thanks for the link to read.
I left the car at the body shop, he said he thinks the battery may have broken from the impact of the accident. I have never had a problem with it before.
I received a call from the insurance company yesterday asking me where to send the check for repairs. I told them I would contact my body shop and would call them back on Monday. I called the shop and was informed they were very unhappy with the adjuster. The shop told me the insurance company is trying to not take fault for the battery and to put a re-manufactured bumper on the car.. :grrrr:
I received a call from the insurance company yesterday asking me where to send the check for repairs. I told them I would contact my body shop and would call them back on Monday. I called the shop and was informed they were very unhappy with the adjuster. The shop told me the insurance company is trying to not take fault for the battery and to put a re-manufactured bumper on the car.. :grrrr:
- Is there even a chance of finding a re-manufactured bumper for my car? I plan on telling them I want nothing but OEM. However, I don't think it is worth arguing if they aren't able to find one, as the next route would be OEM.
- As for the battery, I'm not sure why they think they are not responsible. I didn't jump my car everyday before the accident..
You need to give us a bit more info.
WHICH INSURER are you using?
You need to understand that neither of them are on your side. YOU need to take control of the situation.
1. YOU get the shop to write YOU an estimate and go "full retail"... include everything they want to make it perfect.
2. YOU send that to the lady's insurance company.
3. YOU deal with them, argue, etc.
Right now it sounds like you passively letting a 2nd rate insurance company lowball the body shop and YOU will suffer in the end. YOU need to be the dick and fight, the body shop will not since they dont want to be blackballed.
WHICH INSURER are you using?
You need to understand that neither of them are on your side. YOU need to take control of the situation.
1. YOU get the shop to write YOU an estimate and go "full retail"... include everything they want to make it perfect.
2. YOU send that to the lady's insurance company.
3. YOU deal with them, argue, etc.
Right now it sounds like you passively letting a 2nd rate insurance company lowball the body shop and YOU will suffer in the end. YOU need to be the dick and fight, the body shop will not since they dont want to be blackballed.
Thanks ard,
Since Florida is a no fault state I had the option of dealing with my company or hers. I chose to deal with hers. I'm thinking this may not have been the best idea now, but as you said I would have encountered resistance either way. I'm not sure how much information is too much to give out (names of insurance company, body shops, etc.) so I was being a little vague.
I will do as you instructed in 1-3 first thing Monday morning. This is the best advice I have gotten so far and am considering switching attorneys since they couldn't provide me with something as simple as this. The response I got from them was "take the check, have the car fixed the way you want it, and we'll get the money for you." Now that I think about it it seems that they probably just want to have a settlement because this is when they are paid. But I want the check for the correct amount and the correct parts the first time, I have a feeling it will cause a lot less headache down the road.
Since Florida is a no fault state I had the option of dealing with my company or hers. I chose to deal with hers. I'm thinking this may not have been the best idea now, but as you said I would have encountered resistance either way. I'm not sure how much information is too much to give out (names of insurance company, body shops, etc.) so I was being a little vague.
I will do as you instructed in 1-3 first thing Monday morning. This is the best advice I have gotten so far and am considering switching attorneys since they couldn't provide me with something as simple as this. The response I got from them was "take the check, have the car fixed the way you want it, and we'll get the money for you." Now that I think about it it seems that they probably just want to have a settlement because this is when they are paid. But I want the check for the correct amount and the correct parts the first time, I have a feeling it will cause a lot less headache down the road.
Joined
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595 Posts
When I got hit, the insurance company wanted to get me remanufactured parts. I insisted, politely of course, that I wanted new parts. The reason? I said the car is a limited production M and not a run of the mill E39. That, and I was paying more to insure it than a regular E39 as well. They agreed and cost difference was around $200 for the bumper cover. Be firm with the company, but not a jerk. Just be logical and state your reasons why you should have new part as opposed to remanufactured. You can also mention deminished value due to the use of reman parts.
Remanufactured = used. I would make sure to go full boat on NEW OEM parts, and make sure whichever shop you chose does the same.Thanks ard,
Since Florida is a no fault state I had the option of dealing with my company or hers. I chose to deal with hers. I'm thinking this may not have been the best idea now, but as you said I would have encountered resistance either way. I'm not sure how much information is too much to give out (names of insurance company, body shops, etc.) so I was being a little vague.
I will do as you instructed in 1-3 first thing Monday morning. This is the best advice I have gotten so far and am considering switching attorneys since they couldn't provide me with something as simple as this. The response I got from them was "take the check, have the car fixed the way you want it, and we'll get the money for you." Now that I think about it it seems that they probably just want to have a settlement because this is when they are paid. But I want the check for the correct amount and the correct parts the first time, I have a feeling it will cause a lot less headache down the road.
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595 Posts
Agreed. But we all know it's all a game.....
I'll add that just because the insurer wants to use one method or used parts or whatever, and perhaps has 'rules' and 'inmernal policies', that is all not your concern.
SHE hit you.
SHE is liable for YOUR LOSS.
You do not even need to TALK to her insurer!! Take pictures, fix your car, send HER a demand letter. File a lawsuit for the costs- including YOUR time, rental cars, etc.
SHE may pay you- or she may choose to have her insurance PAY HER LIABILITY.
You do run the risk that the company, or a court, will not agree with your claims and costs- so be it. But just carrying yourself that way, and letting them know that's the way it will go, tends to get their attention. When people are compliant and submissive, they just abuse you.
Once people stop looking at accidents and claims through the prism of "insurance companies" rules, it is easier to understand.
A
SHE hit you.
SHE is liable for YOUR LOSS.
You do not even need to TALK to her insurer!! Take pictures, fix your car, send HER a demand letter. File a lawsuit for the costs- including YOUR time, rental cars, etc.
SHE may pay you- or she may choose to have her insurance PAY HER LIABILITY.
You do run the risk that the company, or a court, will not agree with your claims and costs- so be it. But just carrying yourself that way, and letting them know that's the way it will go, tends to get their attention. When people are compliant and submissive, they just abuse you.
Once people stop looking at accidents and claims through the prism of "insurance companies" rules, it is easier to understand.
A
In these 'black and white' situations, you should have the car repaired using the same parts that were on it (ie OEM).
I suspect the charge blew on the positve lead from the battery thats designed to cut power in an accident which is why you lost your windows and sunroof.
You did the right thing though, stick down the times and stuff on a website so you can't forget it. Take lots of pictures including one of the driver if you can and try and stay calm.
Saftey is one of the main reasons I drive an M5.
I suspect the charge blew on the positve lead from the battery thats designed to cut power in an accident which is why you lost your windows and sunroof.
You did the right thing though, stick down the times and stuff on a website so you can't forget it. Take lots of pictures including one of the driver if you can and try and stay calm.
Saftey is one of the main reasons I drive an M5.
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143 Posts
That sucks about your car at least no one was hurt bad... well as far as we know. Anyway check out this site for FHP reporting and getting reports. He should have issued a case number for you to submit your traffic information exchange form. good luck! FHP: REQUESTING A TRAFFIC CRASH REPORT
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